Investing in the European Past in a Globalized World

CARMEN seeks partners to develop a project on the foundation myths of Europe. Drawing from the lively discussion and many stimulating contributions that came up in Budapest prospective workshop on global memories of medieval Europe all over the world, we tried to identify ideas in order to create a systematic approach toward an ESF Exploratory workshop in 2014.

These are decisive times for Europe. The growth of the EU, its newly discovered fragility and the question of Europe’s place in the world have simultaneously attracted attention to and threatened to marginalize Europe. In times when Europe as a political entity is contested, a constructed European past, rather than a past of separate nations, has gained political utility for the Europeans themselves and their “community building”. Also outside of Europe there are people who invest in their European past and create their identity partially from their European roots. Meanwhile, the rise of other nations and the still evident legacy of European colonialism both encourage debate about the role of European culture in the world and demand that we bring in non-Eurocentric per-spectives on the European past.